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Yale professor speaks at White House on HIV and aging

School of Medicine professor Dr. Amy Justice was invited to the White House to give a presentation on HIV and aging.

Justice's appearance, as part of a larger meeting on the subject, took place on Wednesday, Oct. 27, between 8:30 a.m. and noon.

The purpose was to raise awareness about HIV infection among older Americans, a subject that concerns Justice. “By 2015, half of those living with HIV in the United States will be 50 years or older,” she says. “We must prepare now to care for these individuals, who are likely to experience a greater burden of disease from HIV infection, toxicity from HIV treatment and other co-occurring HIV and aging-associated conditions. As a greater proportion of older individuals live with HIV infection, a greater proportion of new infections will occur in this age group.”

The meeting, which was sponsored by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, also aimed to highlight the successes and challenges of people aging with HIV, to explore existing services for older Americans with HIV and potential gaps in meeting their needs.

Justice is professor of medicine and associate professor of public health/health policy. She serves as section chief of general internal medicine in the Veterans Administration Connecticut Healthcare System. She is affiliated with Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.

For more than 20 years, Justice has conducted research focusing on outcomes in chronic HIV infection. Her goal is to use HIV infection as a model for improving outcomes for chronic disease. She is the principal investigator on the Veterans Aging Cohort Study. This research, primarily funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, considers the complex roles of aging, symptoms, medical treatment, adherence, patient-provider relationships, disease severity, and medical and psychiatric illness in determining survival and quality of life for people with HIV infection.